Nigerian spared death penalty

Jet, April 15, 2002

Safiya Hussaini (r), a 35-year-old divorced mother of five sentenced to death by stoning last fall for sex outside of wedlock, is overjoyed after hearing her life will be spared thanks to the ruling of a Muslim appeals court in Sokoto, Nigeria. The court acquitted Hussaini, ruling there was insufficient evidence to justify the harsh penalty under Islamic law.

Tambari Usman, one of four judges on the appeals panel, said an alleged confession by Hussaini was inadmissible because prosecutors and police had not adequately informed her of the nature of the crime of adultery and its seriousness under Shariah, or Islamic law. Hussaini was convicted in October of conceiving a child with a married neighbor. The court ordered that she be stoned while the lower part of her body was buried in sand. Just days prior to Hussaini's acquittal, the Nigerian government for the first time declared Shariah punishments such as executions and amputations "unconstitutional."